Toy vehicle.



G. SILVER. TOY VEHICLE.

npmonmn 211.21) JULY 23, 1913.

Patented June 16,1914.

Mm w m W 6 I 0. SILVER.-

TOY VEHICLE. I

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1913. I 4 Patented June 16,1914;

ZMrZwJ 'wi" C. SILVER.

TOY VEHICLE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY as. 1913.

1,100,03 1 Patented June 16,1914.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. To all whom it may concern:

'cnnnLns sILvna, or onnirron, MARYLAND, nssrenon ro PHILIP MILLER, orANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

roar vnnrcLn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 23, 1918. Serial No. 780,843.

Be it known that I, CHAnLne SILvnn, a citizen of theUnited States ofAmerica, residing at Odenton, in the count of Anne Arundel and State ofMarylan have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in ToyVehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in miniature toy vehicles.

The object of my invention consists in roviding novel mechanism formoving the toy vehicle operating on a peculiar prin ciple of locomotion,particu arly adapted for relatively light bodies. Toy vehicles, asusually designed, are made to have motion when drawn upon as by pullinga string secured to the vehicle, or bysome automatic arrangement as bythe Winding of a spring, but hitherto the novel efi'ect roduced upon thewheels of a toy vehicle agitating a fan has not been fully appreciated.It is a known fact that, usually when an object is subjected to windpressure it has a tendency to be driven along with the current and notagainst the current; thus ordinarily a toy vehicle equipped with runninggear will be carried along with the current of air set up by theagitation of wind induced by a fan,-

in other words the object would be repelled and not attracted by thewind. Contrary to this natural tendency of repulsion I have devised atoy arrangement goverened by the principle of attracting the toyvehicle, making it move against the wind current toward and in thedirection of the primary mover or source of wind agitation. The efiectproduced upon the mind of the observer of this toy vehicle when it isset in motion as above described is both delusory and instructive andmakes it an especially fit object of demonstration when embodied in atoy.

With the above and other objects in view my invention consists in thearrangement, combination, and details of construction disclosed in thedrawings and specification, and then more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

Referring to the drawings wherein similar reference characters relate tosimilar parts throughoutthe perspective views, Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of my invention, Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. partly insection, Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional elevation thereof, Fig. 4 is a sideelevation, partly in .on said brackets 8.

section of a modification of my invention, 5 is a top plan view of saidmodification with the vehicle body removed, and Fig. 6 is an endelevation, partly in section, of said modification. r .Referrmg tothe'drawings b l numerals there is shown at 1 a suitably s aped bodywhich, by way of illustration is shown boxlike .in contour, although anyother shape maybe given the vehicle, body. Formed at the bottom of thevehicle body 1 is an opening 2 into which may project the grooved wheelor disk 3, or a belt or band 4 which is t-rained over this, disk andwhich disk is hicle-body l and may pass through the bush-. ings 7carried by said vehicle body, although this is optional.

8 designates oppositely-arranged brackets or supports dependinglymounted upon the vehicle body 1, which brackets serve as a bearing forthe transversely-extending shaft 9, upon the opposite ends of'which arefixed the pinions 1O projecting within the plane of the wheels 14 so asto mesh with the circular racks 11 preferably embedded within saiddisks. The wheels 14 are formed with flanges 12 upon which areconcentrically secured the circular racks 11, suitable hubs 13 beingformed upon the forward traction wheels 14, a suitable axle 15connecting said wheels 14 and being mounted The hind or driven wheelsare designated 16, being mounted upon the axle 21 secured in theoppositelyarranged brackets or supports 22 dependingly mounted upon thevehicle-body 1. Formed upon the shaft 6 at one end which projects beyondthe vehicle body 1 is a polysided part 17 upon which is fixed apropeller 18 of any desirable construction. A propeller fan peculiarlyadapted for use in connection with the toy vehicle because of the shapeof its blades and ease of construction is shown and described in adivisional application filed by me. The traction wheels 14 may be heldagainst displacement from the axle 15 by any suitable means such as thecotter pins 19.

20 designates a suitable wind generating or agitating member such as afan designed to exert wind pressure as a primary mover for causingpropeller 18 to rotate which 1n turn is adapted to move the vehicle.

. It is particularly to be noticed that the grooved disk 3 is materiallylarger than the wheel or disk 5 and that the pinlons bear a definedproportional size relatively to the diameter of the traction wheels 14.I do not limit myself to the particular gearing or transmissionmechanism herein set forth as a means for rotating the traction wheelswhen the propeller shaft 6 is rotated. The.

fan 20 will be caused to stir or agitate the air so as to set up aninduced current of air effective to rotate the propeller 1 8, as shownin Fig. l, and as sa1d propeller revolves the grooved disk 5 .willrotate and through the medium of the belt 4 will rotate the grooved disk3 whereuponshaft orpushed or impelled in advance of the current it willmove in an opposing direction or againstthe current, as long as thecurrent I exists exerting a suiiicient pressure to cause the propeller18 to rotate continuously and uninterruptedly. The varying sizes of thegear wheels is an important factor the operation of my invention as itobviates much friction. The currents of air are converted into such asource of mechanical power as will make the energ given out be exertedin rotating the prope ler instead of impinging against the sides of thevehicle- 1 body. The propeller should be relatively of a large size comared with the height of the vehicle body an should'preferably projectabove the plane of the latter so as to remove the tendency of part ofthe .air acting on the body of the vehicle.

In Figs. 4, 5, and 6 there is illustrated a modification of my inventioncharacterized by greater simplicity of construction than the type of toyvehicle already described. Referring to said figures it will be seenthat a substantially torpedo-shaped hollow body 33 is illustrated, beingso shaped to encounter but very little wind resistance when it'is imelled forward. A shaft 32 extends longitu inally within saidtorpedo-shaped body 33 and projects beyond one end thereof. At the rearend .of the shaft 32 is fixed a relatively small grooved-wheel 23 overwhich is trained the belt or band 24 which is also wound around adeep-seated groove 25 formed upon the single hind traction wheel 26,said roove being formedin such a way that the and willnottouch thesurface over which the toy vehicle is moved. A suitable frame shown byway of illustration, in the form of a U-shaped tree 27 is proshown innumber, although a different num-' ber may be employed should it bedesired.

The propeller 18 is secured upon-the project ing end of the shaft 32 andwhen it 15 revolved by the a itation of air as already described the shat 32 will be revolved, and so will the small grooved wheel 23, therebysetting the belt 24 in motion and rotating the rear, traction wheel 26,whereupon the torpedo-shaped body will be driven forwardly in adirection counter to the current enerated by the fan, etc., thismodification illustrates that it is possible to dispense with certainelements of gearing so as to produce a-relatively'light and compactvehicle body capable of moving at good speed at the expenditure oflittle exertion.

It is obvious that numerous other modifications'may be resorted to inpractice without departing in principle from the details ofconstructionherein set forth. I do not therefore, limit myself to the exactarticulars of construction save as pointed out in the appended claims.

What I desire to claim and seek protection for is 1. A device of thekind described comprise a vehicle body, wheels carried by said veicle-body, axles upon which said wheels are mounted, a shaft carried bysaid vehicle body at right angles to sa1d axles, a propeller mounted onsaid shaft, and means controlled by said propeller, for imparting motionto said wheels.

when in motion,

2. A device of the kind described compris- I ing a shaft, a propellermounted on said shaft, means for supporting said shaft, wheels carriedby said support arranged at right angles with respect to said propeller,said propeller adapted to be rotated by air agitation, and meansactuated by said propeller for rotating said wheels.

3. In combination a miniature wagon, wheels carried by said wagon, apropeller carried by said wagon and arranged to be set in motlon by aprimary mover, and means controlled by said propeller for causing saidwheels to rotate and said wagon to move only in the direction of theprimary mover.

4. In a miniature toy wagon the combination of a vehicle body, wheelsmounted upon said vehicle body, a propeller mounted parallel with one ofthe end walls of said vehicle body, and gearing connecting saidpropeller and said wheels whereby the wheels revolve as said propellerrevolves.

5. In combination a miniature wheeled structure, said propeller beingwind ac-i tuated, and means actuated by said propel ier arranged to movesaid wheeled structure forwardly said propeller being arran ed at rightangles to the axis of said w eeled structure. v

6. In combination a vehicle body, wheels carried by said vehicle body, apropeller disposed transversely of said vehicle body, and

arranged to be wind actuated, and means controlled by said propeller asit revolves for revolving said wheels.

7. A device of the kind described comprising a vehicle body, tractionwheels car ried by said vehicle body, a prOpeller mounted transverselyof said vehicle body and having blades arranged to be actuated fromeither side of said propeller, and means actuated by said propellerforcausing said wheels to move toward the direction of the wind current.

8. In combination,-.. a miniature vehicle body, traction wheels carriedby said,vehicle body, a propeller arranged to be wind actuated, andmeans whereby. said propeller as it rotates is designed to move saidtraction wheels forwardly.

9. A toy comprising a vehicle body, traction wheels upon which saidvehicle body is mounted, a shaft disposed longitudinally on saidvehicle-body, and projecting forwardly thereof, a propeller mounted atthe free end of said shaft and projecting above the vehicle body, gearwheels for rotating said traction wheels, and means controlled by saidpropeller for actuating said gear wheels.

10. A toy comprising a frame, traction wheels mounted on said frame, ashaft mounted longitudinally within said frame and pro'ecting therefrom,a propeller wheel mounte upon the projecting end of said shaft, agrooved wheel mounted upon said shaft, a shaft disposed at right anglesto said first-named shaft, a grooved wheel on said second shaft largerthan said firstnamed grooved wheel, a band trained over said groovedwheels, oppositely-arranged pinions formed .upon said first-named shaft,and circular racks carried by said forward traction wheels meshing withsaid pinions.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.1 CHARLES SILVER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM E. Barr, ISAAC ALBERT.

